Last night, after a fantastic day off and a few glasses of wine, I wrote this song for a lady-friend I have. Sappy? Yes, but I don’t care. It's almost Valentine’s day, and we all deserve a little love song.

Darlin’.mp3

Labels: Music

From The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst:

- A book is a flexible mirror of the mind and the body. Its overall size and proportions, the color and the texture of the paper, the sound it makes as the pages turn, and the smell of the paper, adhesive and ink, all blend with the size and from and placement of the type to reveal a little about the world in which it was made. if the book appears to be only a paper machine, produced at their own convenience by other machines, only machines will want to read it.

Question: As we continue to move away from the book as the sole mean of entertainment, knowledge, and the written art-forms; and as we move further into the depths of computer interaction, how do we better convey that humanist element?

How do we make work for a machine-based platform that humans (not just machines) will want enjoy?

Labels: Design, Questions

A few days ago, I woke up with Iggy Pop's Search and Destory rattling around in my head. Though, for some reason, I kept hearing Getz / Gilberto performing The Stooge's old classic, serving it a Mai Tai and laying it out in the sun for a few hours.

I was really curious how this would sound. So I recorded it. Fun little throw-down. Nothing serious. Pardon the peaking microphones. Something must have blown them out recently. Enjoy. I've included the original just for posterity's sake.

Search and Destory mp3 - Cover by Mouse & Brazillionaire
Search and Destroy mp3 - Iggy and the Stooges

Labels: Music

Here's an interesting idea.

de-noted.com encourages participants to make a statement on the one place most people are guaranteed to look: on money.

From their web site:

Every day a countless number of bank notes change hands all around the world. When was the last time the money itself said something to you? When did it last make you think? Has it ever?
What if you could make someone think before they paid?
What if you could make them smile when they got their change?
What if someone else could do it to you, just by asking you a question?

Sounds good to us. Let's do it people. What question would you like to ask mankind? Why not ask it?

We'll go first.

Today we give you Stuff on My Cat

This great site features, what else, people putting stuff on their cat.

There are sections for Business on My Cat, Food on My Cat, and our personal favorite, Naughty Stuff on My Cat.

It also doesn't hurt that the web sites byline is “Stuff + Cats = Awesome,” either.

Enjoy.

P.S. We are 100% buying this shirt which is available in their store.

More info here

Mr. Simmons added some banjo to Gloyd's Morphine and it made us all feel a little bit better, helping kick the ol' habit.

Give it a listen. Morphine Version 2 mp3

Put on your headphones. Sit back. Close your eyes. You hear how the organ comes lapping up on the shore? That's magic. Wait. Give it a second. Rick DeBois' voice staggers up like the old town drunk, frail and mistrusting. Now the notes from Keith's banjo trickle down like rain. That's genius, and yes, sometimes it is a bit difficult to tell the difference between genius and magic, being that the line is so often blurred. You hear how O'Brien's electric accordion pierces the night, and we all gather around the fire to throw an arm around our brother in support?

Karen says it's creepy, but she also thinks that creepy can frequently be good.

We agree.

Man, oh man. What a long day's journey this is all turning out to be. Thanks kids.

I've been sailing on a ship for 24 days. I got scurvy, and I 'aint got no oranges.

Labels: Music

So, a new year begins. We waved goodbye to our old friend 2006 (or as he preferred to be called AughtSix) with champagne-soaked throats and tearful eyes. He reminded us of all the great things we did together and encouraged us to warmly embrace his younger brother, whom he affectionately dubbed Double-Oh Seven. We immediately did so, strangely enough with champagne-soaked throats and tearful eyes, though that quickly led to champagne-soaked pants and blood-shot eyes, and he talked to us until the sun came up of the time that lay before us.

Little Double-Oh, we know what you require of us, and we know that a list of the same old sappy promises (diets, excersise, etc.) simply will not do. A new year demands introspection. So, without further ado, in a flurry of self-reflection, and to give the new year what it needs, we give to you The Mouse and the Billionaire Pact of 2007

1. We will do more making and less critiquing.


2. We will focus on our language, preferring dialogue to diatribe.


3. We will create something to help people in a unique way.


4. We will not compare ourselves to any one else.


5. We will support the creativity of others.


6. We will send more time thinking.


7. We will not waste our or any one else's time

That's what we got for now, Little-Double. Thanks for giving us a chance to try again, and if any one else wants to add to the pact, feel free to join the revolution.